Each day this week, Baltimore Sun reporter and blogger Matt Vensel will break down a key matchup from Sunday’s Super Bowl. Today, he looks at the challenge of defending Colin Kaepernick and the pistol offense.

In their stunning run to Super Bowl XLVII, the Ravens eliminated a pair of future Hall of Fame quarterbacks and also beat rookie Andrew Luck, whom many feel will blossom into the next Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.

But the young quarterback they must shut down on Super Sunday presents a unique challenge because he threatens the entire field after every snap. At 6 feet 4 and 230 pounds, Colin Kaepernick has the stature of the prototypical NFL quarterback -- you know, those Brady and Manning types. But with his rocket right arm and his breakaway speed, Kaepernick, a second-year signal-caller and first-year starter for the San Francisco 49ers, is one of a few exciting, triple-threat quarterbacks who are making their own mold and shaking up the NFL.

Often burning pro defenses with read-option plays in an offensive scheme that was developed in the college ranks (and mastered by Kaepernick before he arrived in the NFL), the San Francisco 49ers pistol-whipped their opponents -- scoring 73 points and averaging 476 yards -- as they rolled through the NFC side of the Super Bowl bracket. The Ravens know they will be next if they aren’t able to slow Kaepernick.

“We’re going to have to tackle him. We’re going to have to keep him inside and in front of our defense. We’re not going to be able to run past him,” coach John Harbaugh said last week. “He’s fully capable of putting 200 yards on you in a second, just as capable as Frank Gore is, or any of their running backs. So, he’s not just an integral part of their passing game; he’s a huge part of their run game. So, we’ll have a plan for it.”

Stopping San Francisco’s pistol offense -- the formation puts Kaepernick a 4-yard snap behind the center with a running back straight behind him -- is much different than dealing with Manning or Brady, but perhaps just as difficult.

PULLING THE TRIGGER

As the legend goes, former Nevada coach Chris Ault created the pistol in the spring of 2005. Looking to improve his pedestrian running game while also searching for something to differentiate his school from the rest of the NCAA pack, he thought up a radical idea. So around sunrise one morning, as Bruce Feldman of CBS reports in this piece, Ault dragged three assistants to the Wolfpack locker room to flush it out. Duct-taped lines on the carpet giving them a sense of dimension, they jogged through plays. Six hours later, the pistol offense was born out of brilliance and desperation, like most innovations in the sport.

Two (winning) seasons later, the Wolfpack started to mix in read-option elements, and after an injury knocked out his starting quarterback, Ault asked a gangly, athletic redshirt freshman to wield the pistol.

Replacing Nick Graziano in a loss to Fresno State, Kaepernick piled up 464 yards and five touchdowns combined with his elusive legs and powerful arm. He produced similar numbers the next week in a quadruple-overtime loss to Boise State. The Wolfpack finished 6-7 that season, but Kaepernick would later take them to new heights in the pistol. He became the only player in the Div. I-FBS history to pass for more than 10,000 yards and rush for more than 4,000 yards in his career. He threw 82 touchdown passes in four years and just 24 interceptions. And as a senior, he led the 13-1 Wolfpack to a WAC title.

“Every time he touched the ball, whether he gained yardage or not, you could just feel the electricity,” Ault recently told The New York Times. “With those long, loping legs of his, well, they haven’t caught him yet.”

The 49ers drafted Kaepernick in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft -- behind quarterbacks such as Cam Newton, Jake Locker, and Blaine Gabbert -- and 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh made him the backup. He saw limited action until Alex Smith was injured in a Week 10 tie against the St. Louis Rams this fall.

Kaepernick got the start eight days later for a Monday night showcase showdown against the Chicago Bears and played well, doing most of the damage with his arm in a 32-7 win. The huddle quickly became his, and the 49ers added pistol plays and more read-option to take advantage of his skill set. Kaepernick is 7-2 as a starter, including impressive playoff wins in which he ran through the Green Bay Packers and chucked the ball over the Atlanta Falcons.

In the regular season, Kaepernick completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 1,814 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. In the playoffs, he has completed 63.5 percent of his throws for 496 yards, three touchdowns and a pick.